Nationalist MP Mario de Marco said this afternoon he is not a director of Allied Newspapers, nor of Progress Press.

Former PN deputy leader de Marco was referring to a statement issued by Mr Robert Hornyold Strickland.

It has been alleged in a court of law that Progress Press was defrauded to the tune of €5 million with the profit going into the personal bank accounts of former director Vince Buhagiar, former Allied Newspapers managing director Adrian Hillman – who is expected to be extradited from the UK to face similar charges, Schembri and Kasco director Malcolm Scerri.

"Unfortunately, Mr Hornyold Strickland is using the current grave circumstances impacting the Allied organisation at which we are all angered  to take a cheap shot at the Strickland Foundation, my family and myself because of his long-standing feud with the same.

Mr Hornyold Strickland in his communique this morning, "misleadingly left out the fact that he himself had in 2012 seconded the motion presented to the general meeting of the Allied shareholders for the appointment of Adrian Hillman as Managing Director of Allied Newspapers Ltd and Group Managing Director. The motion was approved unanimously by all the members present including Robert Hornyold Strickland. I was not present at such general meeting," de Marco said.

"It is moreover pertinent to point out that contrary to the impression given, I am not a director of Allied Newspapers Limited nor of Progress Press Limited and never have been," he added.

"I am a member of the Council of Administration of the Strickland Foundation to which I was appointed in July 2009 and I am incidentally one member out of a Council of five members. The Foundation is currently chaired by Judge Giovanni Bonello. Both Mr Hillman and Mr Buhagiar were appointed in their respective positions within Progress Press years before my appointment to the Council of the Strickland Foundation. 

Contrary to the impression that Mr Hornyold Strickland tried to portray, "I was not involved as a lawyer in negotiations for the purchase of the machinery that is the subject of current criminal proceedings. It is pertinent to point out that during the time in question, namely between 2008 and 2013, I formed part of the Gonzi Cabinet and did not practise any longer as a lawyer. In any event decisions for the purchase of machinery are in the ordinary course of events matters of a commercial nature that would be taken at the management and administrative level of the respective companies of which I have never formed part".

Mr Hornyold Strickland "again misleadingly gives the impression that the Strickland family is not represented at the Allied board level, when in fact his own brother has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the Allied Group since 1988," de Marco said.

Mr Robert Hornyold Strickland has over the past years persisted in his legal challenges to change Ms Mabel Strickland’s will. Regrettably he seeks to pick and choose what aspects of her will he wishes to respect and which he prefers to ignore and, in the process, "has spent the last years trying to tarnish the memory of the late Professor Joseph M. Ganado and that of my father who were her legal advisers and whose respective reputations are beyond repute. He moreover conveniently leaves out the fact that the Courts have disagreed with his interpretation of her will and that he has appealed the judgement."